1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to material handling and transporting systems and equipment and more particularly to multi-purpose vehicles that may be used both for transport goods and materials and also for loading and unloading such goods and materials without the need for other equipment.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The are a number of material handling systems and vehicles that have been designed and built to facilitate the transportation and loading and unloading of goods and materials in order to overcome the need for supplemental material handling equipment and personnel to load and unload goods and materials being moved in commerce. Unfortunately, many such systems and vehicles are specialty vehicles that have been modified for a particular task or purpose and thus are no longer functional for use as a conventional hauling vehicle, such as a flat bed truck or the like.
In view of the foregoing, it would be beneficial to develop a multi-purpose material transporting and handling vehicle that may be utilized in a conventional manner as a combination tractor-trailer and which, when the trailer is unhitched from the tractor, the tractor may be used as a material handling vehicle having forklift capabilities.